Chicago River Revival Festival at Ping Tom Park
When: Sat, Sep 07, 2019 from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Big Jump! 9:00 am – 10:00 am.
Where: Ping Tom (Ping) Memorial Park, 1700 S. Wentworth Ave. Take Chicago Water Taxi 1/2 off on day passes (Reg. $10) with discount code REVIVAL.
A celebration of the 40th anniversary of Friends of the Chicago River and the 20th anniversary of Ping Tom Memorial Park will include live animals, food trucks, canoeing, music, the dedication of a new mural, and the Big Jump! event of officials leaping into the Chicago River to illustrate the rivers improved water quality.
Ping Tom Park is commemorating its 20th Anniversary with the dedication of the Between the Mountains and the Water mural. You’re invited to join us at noon at the 18th Street underpass in Ping Tom Memorial Park.
I’d pay to see some of our politicians jump in the river
Personally I’d pay to see certain Chicago and Cook County officials jump in the river. I wonder if they’ll have one of those portable hazmat showers available for them to blast off all the hazardous chemicals, raw sewage and other microbial matter lurking in the river.
History of Ping Tom Park (redacted from Chicago Park District website)
The Chicago Park District acquired the site for Ping Tom Memorial Park in 1991. For years, Chinatown lacked of open space and recreational facilities. The only nearby parks, Hardin Square and Stanford Park, had been demolished 30 years earlier to make way for the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Ping Tom Memorial Park’s 12-acre site was originally a Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad yard. In 1998, the Chicago Park District began transforming the old rail-yard into a beautiful park with river views, a children’s playground, community gathering areas, and Chinese landscape design elements.
The park was named in honor of the leading force behind its creation, Chinatown’s most noted civic leader, Ping Tom (1935-1995). A lifelong resident of Chinatown, Ping Tom formed the Chinese American Development Corporation in 1984. The private real estate firm transformed a 32-acre rail yard site into Chinatown Square a residential and commercial expansion of Chinatown.
In 2002, the Chicago Park District acquired 5 additional acres on the northeast side of the park. Landscape improvements to the expanded area of Ping Tom Memorial Park will soon follow.
Chicago Public Library
If you have time stop by the Skidmore designed CPL branch at 2100 S Wentworth Ave.
- A new 16,000-square-foot, two-story Chinatown Branch opened August 29, 2015 with a partially covered “living” roof, Feng shui-influenced interior design and expansive views of the city.
- Library service to the Chinatown community began in 1972 in a small storefront on Wentworth Avenue. An 11,000-square-foot rental facility was dedicated September 28, 1990.
- The branch serves as a cultural and information center for those who seek information about the Chinatown community and Chinese culture.
- “Universal Transverse Immigration Proclamation,” a mural by CJ Hungerman representing Chinatown’s development—past, present and future—and designed in conversation with residents of the Chinatown community
